The present invention relates to the field of designs for electrical contacts and carriers therefor, and a method for using the same. More particularly, the invention relates to a contact carrier which can be assembled into a customized sequence of contact carriers in a bandoleer and method of using a bandoleer so assembled.
Electrical crimping tools used in productions lines, for example in the assembly of electrical circuitry used in aircraft, require the rapid feed of electrical contacts into a tool so that the contacts may be rapidly crimped onto the wires and inserted into the tools at high production rates.
Typically the prior art has devised cylindrical contact carriers made of plastic into which carriers the contacts are temporarily placed. The contact carriers are fabricated in long strings or bandoleers of molded integral pieces, each carrier carrying a single electrical contact. The bandoleer of contact carriers are then fed into the automated power crimping tools, which remove the contact from the contact carrier, place the contact in a die crimping position, and then crimp the contact to a wire inserted into the contact. The bandoleer is then indexed within the tool and the next contact carrier is positioned for utilization. Thus, the bandoleer of electrical contacts is fed into the power crimper like a bandoleer of ammunition into a machine gun.
However, several gauges of wires and corresponding different gauges of electrical contacts are typically utilized during assembly of a single aircraft. Because of the expense of the power crimping tools, a separate tool cannot be provided for each different gauge of wire which needs to be crimped. Instead, the fabricator is provided with a plurality of bandoleers, each carrying a different gauge electrical contact. Because the bandoleers are made of contact carriers of unitary extruded plastic, each bandoleer can carry only one gauge electrical contact. When the gauge of the electrical contact changes, the bandoleer must be removed from the power crimper and a new bandoleer inserted. This necessarily slows the fabrication process.
Therefore, what is needed is a bandoleer and a method of providing a bandoleer which can be customized to each fabrication sequence wherein the appropriate gauge contact is provided at the necessary point in the fabrication sequence without the need to stop, unload the power crimper, search and obtain a bandoleer having the appropriate gauge size, and then load the chosen bandoleer back into the power crimping tool.